What's in Season for April?

Like a lot of people, I try to eat seasonally but sometimes it's hard to separate what's in from what's flown in. Also, the seasonal lists online don't account for variable quality and availability.

So it would be great to know what to look for and what's in coming in, going out, and at its peak. Please what you are seeing around the area this month that is in season and where are you finding it.

Seems like brussels sprouts are going out (at least the ones I see on the peninsula are looking like it) and artichokes are coming in. And I think green garlic should showing up soon, yes? April also makes me think of lamb, but I'm not sure who has local lamb or if that is truly seasonal anymore.

I think you're right on the Brussels sprouts and artichokes. Leeks are one of my favorite spring vegetables, and last time I was at the farmers market I saw some gorgeous ones. Local (Watsonville) strawberries are just starting to come in, but they won't be really good for another few weeks. Asparagus -- I was at the Berkeley Bowl yesterday and there was asparagus everywhere. Local cauliflower seems to be available all most of the year now, but I just harvested mine and so this may be the peak season.

People associate lamb with spring, but until I was in Argentina last fall (their spring) I didn't realize that real spring lamb is virtually unheard of in the US. There's not a whole lot of local lamb -- the only place I've bought it retail is Golden Gate Meats in the Ferry Building, which sometimes has local lamb. Otherwise, you have to go direct to farmer. I get some excellent lamb from a CSA that will remain unnamed because the supply is limited -- I think the smallest quantity they sell is half a lamb, so you need a freezer.http://www.edibleportland.com/2008/03...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_and...

Monterey Market had beautiful, though small, local, organic cauliflower on Friday. You don't see that too often. (I'm impressed you grow your own.) I also bought the marble potatoes in three colors. There were baby artichokes, too.

I don't know about supermarkets, but I see small, local, organic cauliflower all the time at the beginning of the season. Swanson's often one of the first farms to have it. Personally I like the stronger flavor of the big yellow mature heads best.

I got caught up in the backyard food-growing craze last year. Fortunately, I have someone who does most of the work! I love being able to come home from work, walk out the back door and pick some veggies for dinner, although the cauliflowers were the only real stars of the winter season (we had some lettuces, but the brussels sprouts haven't really done much). Meanwhile, like a good little femivore, for the last week I've been making stuff from the citrus off my and a friend's trees: orange marmalade, Meyer limoncello, Meyer lemon curd, etc. There's an amazing amount of food that is (or can be) produced in urban/suburban neighborhoods, and that's when you really learn about local and seasonal!

I saw lamb at Bi-Rite (SF) this morning. Can't remember the farm (sorry, not so helpful!) but given the local sourcing of much of Bi-Rite's other food, my guess would be that it's local lamb, or close to it.

Green Garlic, Spring Onions, Morels, Peas, Fava Beans, Fresh Garbanzos, Pea leaves, Fava leaves, Nettles, Most Citrus,Strawberries, Rhubarb,Asparagus, Artichokes and the list goes on. Since April is not here yet it is hard to predict what will be coming in when. Local farmers markets seem to have every thing before distributors and produce markets do. Most meats are not that seasonal any more. Especially in a area with a mild climate.

Bianchini's in San Carlos has morels right now, but they didn't look that fresh. They were half way to being dried out, which may not be a bad thing since you can reconstitute a mushroom. Most of them were medium small for morels.

About 2 weeks ago I bought some peas at Monterey Mkt. I had a feeling they were too mature but bought them anyway because I'd always gotten good ones these. Well, these were not that great, I prefer very young peas. I'm going to ask the mgr about this next time.

Yeah, I saw some at the produce market at Market Hall in Rockridge the other day, and they were definitely a little bitter. Yesterday I asked the people at Riverdog (at the Berkeley FM) when peas would be in, and they said about three weeks.

If you subscribe to the CUESA enewsletter, you'll get an email once a week about what vendors are in and out of that week's farmer's market at the Ferry Plaza, and what produce is coming in, plentiful, and going out. It's pretty useful, whether or not you regularly go to the FPFM, because it shows you what is in and out of the farmers markets in general, and a lot of those vendors are at other local markets.

Green garlic is definitely plentiful, I've seen lots of it in the past two weeks.